The Lawyers Collective welcomes the passage of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2014 (“NDPS”) by Parliament late last week. The amendments make important, path breaking changes for medical access to narcotic drugs by removing barriers that date back to 1985, when the Act was first introduced. The amendments also include provisions to…

28th January, 2014: In a case of a missed opportunity to reconsider its decision which recriminalised the homosexual and transgender persons, the Supreme Court of India has dismissed the review petitions filed against its decision of 11.12.2013 in Suresh Kumar Koushal v. Naz Foundation (Civil Appeal No. 10972 of 2013). In Koushal, the Court had upheld…

There is a Tamil film song: “Child only if you give birth?’ “Your child even if you adopt”, says Hindu Adoption Act. The Hindu religion accords recognition to adoption, to enjoy the property after the present generation and to sustain the family legal heirship. Before the adoption of the 1956 Act relief was provided under…

Last month a science student in Pachaiyappa College (Chennai) was found to have a ‘Thirupachi’ sickle (a two feet long sickle) in his handbag, and was handed over to the police. We frequently encounter news of students roaming the streets with sickles and swords. Evidently the lines from a Tamil film “sharpen the mind, not…

THE NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT, 2013 Overview: Our public distribution system has been severely criticised for its gaping lacunae. To fill in these gaps, a new Act was originally conceived by the National Advisory Council headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who on 27 October, 2010, forwarded the basic framework of the proposed National Food…

Exchanges of individual opinions occur in a large measure in social networks (Twitter, Facebook…). In many countries social networks have scored victories against dictators and on behalf of change of government. There is a growing volume of opinion that this technology had ushered in the freedom of expression of individuals. The number of people using…